OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I just got off the phone with William Henzell and he is over the moon with Vega Pro. For a very laid back guy he sounded very excited about it.

He'll soon do a report on it.

Going forward it will be his rubber of choice along with Robert Frank (who is sponsored by XIOM) and several other top Aussie players.

He is yet to try the Euro and Asian versions but I'll send him those next week.

Can we hope for a thorough review soon? (Pretty please.)

I'll ask him to reply to this thread next week if Alex is okay with it. I don't want to push Vega here too much.

i heard that vega pro is rival to tenergy 05, equivalent to hexer...
vega asia is liken to tenergy 64...
euro is softer version of the asia...

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instagram: rokphishtt

Absolutely!

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Yes please do!

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Yes, please. This sounds interesting.

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Butterfly Viscaria Black tag
2.2 mm Nexy Karis M on FH and BH

Hi all, yep I'll be doing a review of Vega soon. I'll say one thing now though - get your hands on some!

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ttEDGE.com
By William Henzell and Brett Clarke
Table Tennis Coaching | ttEDGE YouTube

I picked up some Vega Asia and I am very impressed so far. I'm looking forward to a review by more experienced players, though.

Me too. In particular thewook82, how long you've used it, on what blade, if it's changed characteristics or feel since you first tried it and especially how it compares to other Xiom rubbers such as Zeta. Thanks.

Hi all,

So here is my low-down on Xiom Vega. When Geoff (the manager of AussieTableTennis.com) called me up and said 'I've got another Tenergy 05 copy for you to try, this one is supposed to be really good' I groaned and thought 'not again...'. Every one of these copies I had tried had been a hotted up Tensor. But yes, just another Tensor.

So many players love Tensors. I do club visits around Victoria and Australia where I take along a big bag of made up rackets with all sorts of different blades and rubbers for players to try. Tensors are always the most popular (Yasaka Pryde, Joola Tango and Xiom Omega 3 more so than others) as they are comfortable, easy to play with and open up a whole new world to club players that they've never experienced. The rubbers are soft, have a high throw over the net and are forgiving of poor timing and technique. Guys whose topspins normally went into the bottom of the net with the old-style Japanese rubbers could suddenly get spin and dip on the ball. You can topspin, block, slap, chop and whatever else you like. But for top-level play? Not really. The softish, springy sponge doesn't have enough oompf to send the ball out with sufficient power and does not stand up when put under a lot of tension. You can understand my apprehension.

As soon as I took the rubber out of the packet I noticed it was different. The sponge is black and is really quite porous. I was amazed by the top sheet - it looks exactly and I mean exactly like a sheet of Yasaka Mark V. If you get a new sheet of rubber and try to hold it horizontally on one side, you feel the rubber sag. Vega Pro sagged differently to any of the other Tensors I've tried and felt much stiffer. It takes a lot for a new rubber to excite me but Vega Pro had done it and I was eager to give it a test run.

I decided to put Vega Pro up against the toughest of competition and had a sheet of Tenergy 05 (max thickness) on one side and a sheet of Vega Pro (max thickness) on the other. These rubbers were on a Yasaka Ma Lin Carbon blade. Tenergy 05 has been the market leader for top level play since the speed glue ban and the other manufacturers have been working tirelessly to create a rubber that can compete.

I can safely and confidently say that Xiom Vega Pro is an outstanding rubber and is as good, or better, than Tenergy 05. I'm willing to put my equipment reputation on that. More importantly I will be putting my rubber where my mouth is and will be personally using Xiom Vega Pro from now on.

Xiom Vega Pro feels similar to Tenergy 05 in that it has stiff, firm sponge (as any top table tennis rubber should). The ball does not sink through the rubber and sponge on impact like all other Tensors. Basically, it feels nothing like a Tensor.

Here are my main observations:

- Xiom Vega Pro has a low throw over the net which is absolutely crucial for me in my game. Much of my game is built on keeping the ball low over the net and out of harms way. Vega Pro gave me exactly what I need to do this.

- Vega Pro is slightly harder than Tenergy 05.

- Vega Pro is a little slower than Tenergy 05 and I'm happy about this. I want control in my game and I want my rubber to give me as much time to play my shot as it can. I play close to the table and am often late to the ball. I'll love any rubber that can help compensate this. A couple of years ago, I was using Yasaka V-Stage and was happy with it. Then I tried Yasaka Mark V and felt how much more control I had with the slower Mark V. The difference between Tenergy 05 and Xiom Vega Pro is smaller than that but you get the idea.

- Vega Pro felt better for counter-topspins than Tenergy 05 on both my forehand and backhand. I think this has to do with it being a touch slower. This is the area that Tensors have ALWAYS fallen down in the past. Counter-spinning a dropping ball puts the sponge and rubber under immense friction and pressure. The ball often just slides off with Tensors which is a mortal sin for any top level rubber. I absolutely loved the control and meaty feel that Vega Pro gave me on these shots.

- Vega Pro has good spin. Whether it has more or less spin than Tenergy or other rubbers is impossible to say and frankly is irrelevant. It has enough and more.

- Vega Pro is not going to let down any part of your game. It has enough speed, spin, control, tension, friction and everything else for a world-class player to use.

- A week of everyday use had very little noticeable effect of the top sheet. This appears to be a very durable rubber.

I'm going to have to admit I was wrong. I did not think the Germans would be producing a rubber that could match Tenergy 05 anywhere near as soon as this. Xiom Vega Pro came out of the blue for me and is very, very different to any other Tensor I have tried. I've heard that it will be much cheaper than Tenegry 05 but do not know what it will be retailing for in Australia yet. Do not be surprised if you see the price of Tenergy drop soon as there is no longer any point shelling out that much more money for a rubber that now has an equivalent.

I will be following up this review in the near future. By then I will have had a chance to use Vega Pro in hot conditions, cold conditions, humid conditions and during the pressure of competition.

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ttEDGE.com
By William Henzell and Brett Clarke
Table Tennis Coaching | ttEDGE YouTube

Thanks a lot wook, and welcome back!

One of the things that I like immediately about the Tenergy05 was that it was very easy to generate high spin, and it seemed to generate this from the topsheet, whereas most Tensors needed you to dig it into the sponge to achieve this.

I find the spin of the Tenergy05 is very high and it's easy to generate even for players at the lower levels. Of course this comes at a price, but I think this was always a big selling point of the Tenergy series. How does the Xiom Vega Pro fair in this department?

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Awesome review. Thanks! I've recently purchased some Vega Asia for my backhand, and it won me over so thoroughly that it is now my backhand and forehand rubber--in addition to turning me away from my infatuation with Chinese rubbers. I'm still very interested in trying the Pro and Europe Vegas.

Good review. thanks.

I felt the same with Andro Hexer...which is from the same factory, same generation, same porous sponge structure, different color and different logo. [german companies launch esn products faster with their relationship to esn, korean companies lose some time in translating emails ]

i am happy that you found it quite like I found hexer.... reconfirms my observations, under challenge from so many tenergy fans. You might see some change in reflectivity from the center portion and the sides after a month or two...and some effect on playing charecteristics (still much less than usual tensors). When you see that, use a quick spinmax aqua treatment and it will be even better than ever.

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Blade: 729 F1 || FH: Joola Rhyzm max || BH: Tenergy 05 Max updated: 1/2014

What is interesting in the Vega series seems to me is that they are selling three different sponge hardnesses --Professional, Asian, and European. The way thewook82 is describing his Professional Vega is not the way the Donic Barracuda felt to me (which in fairness may or may not be like Hexer). I thought Barracuda was too soft as well as too slow and the throw was pretty high. Thewook is describing a somewhat harder feel. Barracuda was not terrible rubber, the top sheet seemed really really good, but I preferred Tenergy when I actually played with it. Perhaps one of the three versions of Xiom Vega is like Hexer et al. and the others are harder (which in my view would make them better). The other possibility is that all three are something quite different. From this very excellent and informative review, I think I will stick with Tenergy because for the moment I quite like the somewhat higher throw that it provides, now that I have gotten used to it. But these new Xiom rubbers still sound interesting and at some point I will probably buy one just because my curiosity will be too much for me.

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Butterfly Viscaria Black tag
2.2 mm Nexy Karis M on FH and BH